The newspaper "Rossiiskaya gazeta" has reported that Russian police will be required to check on the condition of all people about to be placed in detention facilities before they are actually put in cells.

"Rossiiskaya gazeta" reports that police must ask if the detainee has any chronic illnesses or other health issues.

All that information must be documented and available to other police officers and employees at the detention facility.

According to the newspaper, people with diabetes and pregnant women cannot be detained at regular facilities and can only be held in places where they have ready access to medical assistance.

Police are obligated to inform close relatives and the prosecutor about any detainee with a serious illness or trauma or any detainee who dies within three hours of the time police themselves learn about it.

In a high-profile case, Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died while in pretrial detention in 2009 after implicating top Russian officials in a scheme to defraud the government. During his detention, he was routinely denied medical care for pancreatitis and other ailments.